Four Lowell Whiteman Primary School students spent April participating in the school's pilot program, the Community Service Project. Emily Gold, Sean Kuusinen, Shelby Reed and Alex Gibbs volunteered 30 hours a week at area nonprofit organizations and/or government agencies. Emily worked for Yampatika; Sean worked with the Colorado Division of Wildlife; Shelby worked with Lowell Whiteman Primary School; and Alex paired up with Partners in Routt County. The project concluded with a public presentation about what they learned about each organization's contribution to Steamboat.

What a lost opportunity. Our City Council still does not get the message. OK, so the "Green Team" didn't go through the right channels and didn't have the right timing, but the team sure made an impression/awareness on the rest of us residing in Steamboat Springs.

My mother-in-law loves insurance agents, and they love her. They offer relief from the hassle of deductibles and coinsurance that is most appealing to an 86-year-old. But the hassle-free life is brief. Soon she hears, "We don't cover that," or "your doctor did not provide one of our diagnostic codes," aggravation and an unhealthy rise in her blood pressure follow. Can we eliminate this conundrum that constantly repeats itself?

I attended the Steamboat Springs City Council meeting last Tuesday and really learned a lot. No kidding! I arrived at about 5:45 p.m. to show my support for our Green Team's recommendation to the city to create a staff position. As it turned out, our agenda item didn't come up until well after 8 p.m.

Like teachers, reporters, grocery store checkers, taxi cab drivers and bar tenders, law enforcement officers often struggle to live and work in the resort communities they are sworn to serve and protect.

We have the safest, most abundant food supply in the world. We also spend less of our income on food than anyone else in the world. As discussion of the 2007 Farm Bill moves forward, I hear grumblings about "farm subsidies."

I've been an astronomer for so long that it's hard to remember a time when I looked up at the night sky and was totally lost. I was about 12 years old when I had an epiphany one night while looking up at the stars.

Thanks to Lynn Abbott for her letter "For the Common Good" that appeared in the Pilot &amp; Today on May 13. The conservative editorial series that began three Sundays ago is written to illustrate the difference in thought between conservatives and liberals. Abbott's letter is a good example of the differences we've tried to explain.

House restoration highlights preservation efforts

The problem with living in a Colorado ski town is that most everyone is a jock, thinks they're a jock or tries to be a jock. Women have buns of steel, bulging biceps and zero body fat. Men come shrink-wrapped in little black lyrca pants, shave their legs and are obsessed with biking uphill. People around here like to sweat, except, alas, for me. Sometimes I just like to sit down and do nothing.